Onaway/Inland Lakes to square off in district volleyball
The Onaway High School varsity volleyball team will put its season on the line Saturday when it takes on the Inland Lakes Bulldogs in a district semifinal at Rogers City. The Cardinals played the Bulldogs several times during the regular season, most recently in last week’s Straits Area Conference tournament, but have yet to defeat them in a match.
Saturday’s district pairing begins at 10 a.m., and this time it’s do or die. Coach Tina Peterman hopes her squad can build on one of its stronger performances, at Monday’s Ski Valley Conference tourney. The Red Birds advanced to the semifinals of the SVC, hosted by Inland Lakes, by coming from behind against Central Lake, losing the first game 12-15, but winning the next two, 15-7 and 15-11.
That propelled Peterman’s squad into the semis against a Pellston team ranked second in the state in Class D. The Cards played well against the Hornets, but lost 15-4 and 15-6 to finish in a tie for third in the conference. “The scores against Pellston really don’t reflect how we played,” the coach said. “The second game, we went three rotations with them. Through one full rotation, we were down just 1-0.
“It was great run for us, beating Central Lake, which was the number two seed in the south division, then playing Pellston as well as we did. These girls stepped up and played them tough.” Jamie Grainger served 11 points for OHS. Amanda Bliemeister served 10, with six aces, and had seven di
The Cards didn’t play quite as well in Saturday’s SAC tournament. In that tourney, hosted by Lincoln-Alcona, Onaway played all six of the other teams in the conference.
OHS split with Alcona (15-8, 10-15) and Newberry (9-15, 15-4), but lost to Inland Lakes (3-15, 1-15), St. Ignace (7-15, 5-15), Rogers City (2-15, 2-15), and Rudyard (5-15, 12-15).
“In this one, we didn’t play as well as we could have,” Peterman said. “Too much arguing on the bench and on the floor, which we’ve had problems with all season.”